I am very fond of roasted red peppers and I’ve been enjoying the red ones from a jar but Irecently spotted sugar as an ingredient on my favorite Trader Joe’s brand. Why? The mixed pepper version has no sugar but the best solution is buying fresh, organic peppers and roasting them yourself. The skin on bell peppers after roasting and steaming comes off even easier than poblano peppers.
Roasting peppers is easy and I’ve written about it before. Now I tend to only use the burners on my gas stove and I put the peppers in a large mixing bowl and cover it with a plate. No plastic wrap is needed.
This is a bold, meaty salad that I can eat as a dinner.
Recipe: Roasted Pepper Salad with Pepitas
1 each of Poblano, Red Bell and Orange Bell peppers, roasted, skinned and cleaned, then chopped into strips 1/4 cup Manchego cheese, cut into small cubes 1/2 red onion, sliced into very thin skins 1 teaspoon Rancho Gordo Oregano Indio Rancho Gordo Pineapple Vinegar, to taste Extra Version Olive Oil, to taste Salt and pepper, to taste 2 tablespoons roasted Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
Toss the peppers, cheese, onions, and Oregano Indio together. Add the olive oil and vinegar as you like. Test for seasoning and add salt and pepper. Gently toss and then add the pepitas on top. Serve room temperature or slightly chilled.
I’m happy to report that we’ve switched back to FedEx as UPS as our primary logistics partner was not a good fit. We still have our account open and we use the US Postal Service, as well, but FedEx is back.
Bread never goes to waste in the Sando household. As the loaf starts to get stiff, I slice it up and lay it on the grates in my oven. In the morning, it’s super dry, and then it gets packed into an airtight tin until it’s ready to help. I have an old gas stove with a pilot light, so the bread dries quickly, but any oven will do, it just may take longer.
Beans and bean broth never get wasted either. In this case, I added some leftover chicken stock to the beans and bean broth, and then there was soup. It was delicious but not so fancy, so I placed a piece of the stale bread and a few crumbles of queso fresco in a soup bowl. The bean mixture got ladled on top, and just for kicks, I added a very few pickled onions on top.
I have to admit, I get a kick out of a dinner that is so delicious and so frugal. The rest of my life is indulgent enough. Really, there was no suffering in this situation.
I’ve said this over and over but when you have something out for your guests to eat and drink, you can mostly take your time with the rest of the food.
My favorite hummus recipe is easy and lately I’ve been topping it with ground lamb and pine nuts, but a few olives on the edge of the plate and a good drizzle of olive oil are just as good.
I’ve been getting my tahini online from Soom Foods and it’s so much easier to work with than a bottle or can from the grocery store that has been sitting there so too long. And it’s delicious and I’ll be re-ordering.
I had made white beans and kale the previous night, and there was about a cup left. Before you ask me for the recipe, it’s beans and cooked kale. That’s it. I added some tahini and lemon juice and pureed it with an immersion blender, and then I had this wonderful dip, but not before adding a healthy dose of really good extra virgin olive oil.
I would have called this White Bean Hummus, but I don’t know if there is such a thing and I know how offended I am by creative martini drinks when a martini is gin and vermouth. Not being sure and not wanting to offend hummus purists, I present to you: White Bean, Kale, and Tahini Dip.
I’ve used the recipe in The Kitchn for making ricotta cheese with milk and lemon juice for years. I know that it’s worth it to make it just for the cheese, but I think it’s great for using up extra milk.
This time, inspired by Carlos Yesca‘s recipe in the current Food + Wine, I made the cheese as instructed but afterward, I added some salt and chopped epazote and then placed it in a cheese basket to let all the excess liquid drain. This might be a form of queso fresco or paneer but I’m not sure.
It’s not a decadent gooey cheese. It’s ideal for adding to a pot of beans or a very quick quesadilla. And it’s fun.
I’ve never seen this done in Mexico but I bet there’s a village somewhere that steams fish in hoja santa/acuyo leaves. I’ve done something similar where I steamed fish in a corn tamal wrapper but I had a delicate sole on hand. I also wanted something quick-ish and easy.
I marinated the fish in olive oil, garlic, a small splash of pineapple vinegar, salt, thinly-sliced zucchini, onions, and Oregano Indio. The fish was later wrapped into sloppy packets and tied with butcher twine and steamed for about 10 or 12 minutes. The zucchini really needs to be thin so I used a mandolin.
I bet you could do the same with grape or fig leaves. If the fish were sturdier, you might grill them as well.
My friend Canice saw this photo of me from the early 1980s in Sestri Levante. It’s a beach town in Liguria, Italy and I spent many summers there in my early 20s. She wrote: I wanna use this photo to persuade young people to live a little, while they have the chance.
Sestri Levante, early 1980s
I know exactly what she means. I wouldn’t go back to my youth for anything but your twenties are a time to really let things rip. Yes, you can go to Europe at any age but you find as you get older you can’t really “crash” on a ferry boat like you can when you’re young. You suddenly need a private bath and a comfortable bed in a way you just don’t when you’re in your 20s.
Most importantly, you make friends more easily and you’re open to new experiences in a way that a cautious old fart isn’t. And you look so much better in photos than you will in your 50s.
In my 20s, I worked like crazy, lived on nothing and saved every penny for trips to Europe. Yes, it was somewhat easier then, but I had two roommates, lived like a pauper and you if you want this, you’ll figure out how. And I think you should.
Inspired by Canice, these are my 10 things every young person should do when they travel.
Learn a song in a foreign language so you can sing along when your new friends get drunk.
Live like a pauper for a few months so that you can travel. Come home and then do it again. (Hint: This traveling will make you more interesting, and you’ll get better and better jobs the more you do it.)
Don’t assume anyone gives a sh*t how we do things in the states.
Dance with an old person.
Learn to say Hello, Goodbye, Please and Thank You in your host language. Use them all frequently.
Sleep when you get home.
I was going to add to not make yoga poses in front of the Eiffel Tower or at Machu Picchu, but you know what? If you want to, do it. It’s none of my business and if it makes you happy, be my guest. I think it’s weird and indulgent, but I like Ethel Merman in a non-ironic way. There’s room for all of us.
I’m not adding it to the list, but I would suggest you put down your smartphone. Traveling used to mean really cutting yourself off from your everyday life. You sent postcards and sometimes letters. Phone calls were insanely expensive, and you only called if something went wrong. You had no idea what anyone else was doing, and the news came from the International Herald Tribune. My gentle suggestion would be to take lots of photos and then share them when you get home. Your friends will be just as impressed. The burglars won’t know your schedule quite so well. I promise you, you will not suffer from missing Aunt Myrtle’s cat photos in real time.
I focused on Europe. Now my obsession seems to be Mexico and the Americas. Asia would be great. I want to encourage everyone to see as much of the world as they can, especially the young. Go for it.
Anissa Helou’s Feast: Foood of the Islamic World (Ecco Press, 2018) is a great book and you should have it in your personal library. It’s big, beautiful and full of recipes that are complicated and exotic along with much simpler fare. The common thread is celebrations. I’ve had the book for a while now and it remains a constant inspiration. The recipes work.
I’ve taken a lot of liberties with her Baked Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Olives recipe from Morocco. She calls for a whole sea bass but my market had fillets of halibut. The all green olives were replaced by a mixture of green and black only because this is what I had on hand. I also added a bed of pureed Rancho Gordo Cassoulet beans on each plate to rest on as a starch instead of bread. But the basic dish is chermoula-marinated white fish baked with tomatoes and olives. I did follow that!
A traditional Moroccan clay vessel for fish is a tagra. I’ve been wanting one for a very long time. I’ll get one one day. I used the bottom of my clay, unglazed tagine and it was great. I even used the tagine lid to keep the dish warm as my slow but determined family made their way to the table for a Sunday supper. We all agreed that this was a keeper, especially with so many good heirloom tomatoes at hand in the garden. I’m hoping Anissa won’t mind all the liberties taken with her recipe.
Recipe: Baked Fish with Tomatoes and Olives
For the Fish 1 ½ to 2 pounds of firm white fish, such as halibut or sea bass. Chermoula (see below) Sprigs of flat leaf parsley 4 large firm ripe tomatoes, cut into thick slices sea salt 10 ½ ounces green (or green and black) olives, pitted, preferably by you, sliced in half 2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Cassoulet beans and some of their cooking liquid
For the Chermoula 5 cloves of garlic, minced to a fine paste or pounded in a mortar 1 small onion, finely grated ½ bunch of cilantro, stems discarded, finely chopped 1 teaspoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon paprika ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil juice of 2 lemons, or to taste sea salt, to taste
Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place on a platter or in a bowl. Gently massage the fish with the chermoula and marinate for at least 2 hours, preferably longer, in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 425F (220C).
Blanch the pitted olives in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and reserve.
Spread the parsley over the bottom of an oven-to-table baking dish large enough to hold the fish. Lay down the marinated fish and then cover with sliced tomatoes. Season the tomatoes with salt and add any leftover chermoula over the tomatoes. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Add the reserved olives and cook for another 10 minutes. Take care to not overcook the fish. A whole fish will take a few minutes longer than fish fillets. Allow the dish to rest for 5 minutes.
Warm the beans in a small pot and puree them with an immersion blender. The consistency should be almost like a pancake batter; thick but still soft and liquid. If they are too runny, turn up the heat to medium-high and stir as the bean puree thickens. If the beans are too thick, add a little water.
Have each guest put a ladle full of the bean puree on each plate and then add the fish.
In our last Rancho Gordo newsletter, I made this comment:
I was looking through our customer reviews on ranchogordo.com and in general, the feedback is the kind of thing most companies dream of. We have about 95% five-star reviews and the occasional clunker. Most of the bad reviews state something like this: “I’ve been cooking the beans in a bean pot for six to eight hours now and they still aren’t soft. They were soaked for twelve hours and have been simmering in a ceramic bean pot all afternoon and evening.” Or “I soaked them at least 24 hours and used them in my recipe and no matter how long I cooked them they were still crunchy.”
What do they have in common? Excessive soaking.
As I’ve said many times before, most of us here don’t soak our beans. We know how fresh they are and it’s easier to just cook them. Sometimes I’ll get up early on a Sunday morning and soak the beans for cooking later in the day but I really think between four and six hours is more than enough. It’s not science, but a suspicion I have is that the beans are starting to sprout. I’m not anti-soaking but I do think you can over-soak the beans.
I was naive to think there wouldn’t be a response! I’ve decided to post some for you here. So many great responses and so many great customers. I’m a happy fellow.
I should add, I don’t have any problem with our beans not softening. And judging by our customer service inquiries, neither do the vast majority of you. We have all kinds of problems, but this just normally doesn’t come up as one of them. But when it does, it seems to be accompanied by an extremely long soak.
Steve, As a geologist, I thought I would add to your over-soaking comment. Many water systems have natural salts that may also harden prevent the beans not cooking . Everyone knows only salt the at the end of cooking. I never had success cooking beans until I discovered Rancho Gorda beans and your website. Thank you for the great products, cooking methods and fab recipes. All my best, MC
Hi Steve,
That’s an interesting take on soaking. I just drop the dry beans into boiling water, let them boil for 1 measured minute and then let them soak for an hour. They come out perfectly so long as I use the beans of the year.
I just finished harvesting my crop of Marcella’s and Tigereyes and am in process of harvesting white runners. I doubt that I will plant the last next year. The vines take over the world! This spring I harvested a small crop of red lentils and am waiting for cooler weather to cook up a mess of red lentil/Italian sausage potage.
I tried some nuñas popped in the microwave and was less than impressed. I’ll try them in a skillet next time but this variety doesn’t look like a repeater to me. Maybe some garbanzos will be worth a try next spring.
Growing and eating beans is immensely satisfying!
Walter
As I always say, if you have a system that works for you, keep on it. re the Nuñas, I like the idea of them popping but after years of drying them to try and get them to pop, it’s seemed less than a thrill.
I find that if you add salt or tomatoes before the beans are soft, they will never get soft. Many recipes include salt or tomatoes too early. I love your beans!!! JoAnn
Steve, I’m wondering if your customers who are commenting on cooking issues are adding salt too early to the cooking water. I believe (from experience)that has an effect on cooking time. Love, love your beans! I’m grateful to my friend who introduced me to your products. Thank you, thank you.Elita
Hi Steve, I’m just wondering about your thoughts on the recommendation by Americas Test Kitchen on “brining” beans during the soaking period. Like you, I typically only soak for 3-4 hours before cooking but have found that 3-4 tbs of salt in the soaking water helps. You do have to rinse this off and cook in unsalted water after that and only adjust seasoning at the end. They (ATK) claim that brining causes some change to the skin structure which keeps it intact but not hard. Just wondering in RG has ever tried or heard of this? Craig
We talk about this a lot because people bring it up. It’s hard to bother when our beans seem always to come out. Julia has promised to try this over the holiday weekend.
Steve: another culprit is salt. I used to salt my beans as soon as I added the water and other ingredients, but sometimes they never softened, no matter how long I cooked them. After doing a little research, I found a Diana Kennedy recipe that says to NEVER salt beans until near the end of the cook time. Now I never salt until the end, and they come out perfect every time! Salud, James
I tend to salt at the point when the beans aren’t quite done but it’s clear that there’s no turning back. The pot starts to smell like beans. If you wait too long, you’ll have salty broth and bland beans. It’s a balancing act.
Hi Steve, So are you saying that over soaking causes “hard” beans?? Best, Roger
Yes. It can happen!
Steve – I agree! Rancho Gordo beans are so fresh they hardly require any soaking. I never have to soak the Midnight Black Beans – they are my all time favorite! Will you ever have the Florida Runner Beans again? Or something similar? Best – Diane
Hi Steve! Hope you are well! On soaking beans, I will say that those who live in places where the water is hard as a rock, do need to add a teaspoon of baking soda to the quick pre soak, to soften the cooking water and then drain. Others may not know to leave the salt out till they are cooked soft, as salt pulls water out of foods. The lovely Corona is just a big bean and needs more cooking, it’s all relative Steve. 🙂 Hope this helps! Munson
Hello there! Regarding soaking beans: I’ve been experimenting a little with my new toy…a Fissler stove top pressure cooker. I have been doing a quick soak first. I pour boiling water from the kettle on my beans and soak for about an hour, then pressure cook them for about 20 minutes. I probably don’t need to do the presoak. I never have when I’ve cooked my beans the normal way. But I like the way the beans are coming out. Just thought I’d share. Best wishes, Cheri
Loved the New Yorker article. Really enjoying your beans. A quick question hopefully. I soaked a pound of Scarlett runners (will do less soaking next time, I hear you on they’re so fresh don’t necessarily need it). I drained early the next morning and put in a container and promptly forgot about them. They’re about ten days old now. They look fine, smell fine, haven’t sprouted, aren’t soft or mushy, etc. Do you think they’re okay to cook still?
Another question as I’m writing this: can I freeze simply cooked beans (I’m thinking I do a basic cook, split in half, freeze one, cook the other and the next week or month, unfreeze and make a completely differ t recipe).
Thanks in advance for anything you might offer. Hope all is well there for you and yours! Amy
I would pass but only based on instinct, not science. Freezing is easy and those that do it recommend freezing with plenty of bean broth.
Interesting article on bean soaking…we are above 5000′ and use a pressure cooker…never had problems with soaking overnight…no consistent issue except maybe for some beans in the batch. just our two cents worth for what that is worth anymore 🙂 great beans and newsletter… best, Will
Ah ha! So one CAN oversoak beans! What a help, that is. I’m sure I’ve sent some into sprout mode plenty of times. Recently, I took a class at Sur la Table. We used an Insta-Pot to cook unsoaked beans and they were fantastic…in half an hour or less. Erin
If you soak beans (at least garbanzos) long, they start to ferment. Bubbles give it away. Jacques Pepin says that makes them unhealthful, but I can’t imagine that being true. Fermenting generally makes things more digestible by breaking down long sugar molecules. I wonder if that could affect cooking, however. I believe I have run into the phenomenon you mention after soaking them a long time (generally due to unplanned delays in cooling) up to a few days Best, Paul ps – In your searches, please look for small garbanzos. I got some from Arrowhead (sorry) but most are much bigger. The little ones are more like those I’ve had in Italy.
I just read your latest newsletter and I wanted to say something about oversoaking beans. I’m with you — my (starting to become extensive for a home cook) experience shows that yes, you can oversoak beans. Basically, I think that once the soaking water starts to froth on the top they’ve been soaked too long and are starting to ferment (or maybe sprout, as you suggest). 12 hours is too long! Overnight is too long! 24 hours is way too long. 3-6 hours is fine, and not soaking at all is also fine but does take a little longer. Maybe an hour or two. So I’m not sure if you’re really saving much time by pre-soaking anyway.
The only Rancho Gordo beans I’ve found tricky in regards to cooking time are the teparies. They are really unpredictable. But delicious enough that I don’t care 🙂
